Dallas Spartan Race Weekend: How I Survived My First Ultra Beast

My first Spartan Ultra Beast was in Dallas on October 28, 2017. There was laughter, there were tears, there was a mess. Seriously though, there were some things I learned that I hope might help others during their first Ultra Beast.

Transition container – What it is, why you need one, and why you don’t have to use a 5 gallon bucket!

First, I didn’t even know what the transition container was all about or why you even needed one. I saw people post pictures of theirs but had no idea what was supposed to go in it or what it was used for. After doing some research and asking questions I found that it was pretty helpful to have a resupply of food, water, and clothing at the halfway point.

I was under the impression you had to use a 5-gallon bucket with a lid and decorate it up so you could find it in the sea of other buckets. I found, through some great groups on social media, that you can actually use pretty much anything. If it’s going to rain you certainly want to keep things dry and secure so the buckets are a great choice, but there are many options. Some of the containers I saw were plastic totes, backpacks, duffle bags, fabric grocery store bags, a shoe box, and even a plain old garbage bag. Since I was flying, I was hoping for an option that would be easy to carry on the plane and didn’t require bag check, as I didn’t want to take a chance of my luggage being lost. I opted for a backpack so I could put it in my suitcase for traveling and fill it up at the hotel.

What went into the transition container:

-IMPORTANT: I lined the backpack with a trash compactor bag in case of rain

-Food for transition included baby food squeeze packets (chicken and rice, sweet potato, and banana). Someone listed this on a site and it was great. Quick, easy, and didn’t weigh me down.

-Food to resupply my pack for the second half of the race included homemade energy balls (date-based with nuts, chia, coconut, etc.) and honey stinger gels

-Food for after the race was a peanut butter and jelly sandwich to get me by until I could drive to get dinner

-2 Liters of Water to refill my bladder (quicker to pour it in than switching out for a new one)
-Electrolytes
-Towel (to clean feet at transition)
-Shoes and socks
-Extra top and pants
-Garbage bag for dirty clothes
-Gloves
-Sunblock
-Advil
-Body Glide
-Band-aids

Backpack – I was very happy with the garbage bag lined backpack. Easy to transport on the plane and easy to carry to the drop site at the race (nice being able to put it on my back instead of doing an early bucket carry)

Trash compactor bag liner – they are much heavier than garbage bags and won’t rip unless it’s an extreme case

Food – I sorted the three categories of food into their own gallon baggies so they were easy to pick out

What didn’t work:

Sunscreen incident – At the beginning of this article, I mentioned tears, laughter, and a mess. Well, I didn’t close the sunscreen all the way when I reapplied at transition and it leaked inside my bag. Yes…..it wasn’t pretty! Putting it (and this goes for all liquids) in a baggie would have prevented a big mess. Lesson learned.

Packet pickup:

I arrived the afternoon before the race to pick up my packet. I decided to store my transition bag the next morning as I came directly from the airport and didn’t have time to completely pack last minute items in it.

Race day:

I live in Seattle and chose Dallas for my Ultra Beast partly because it’s warm! Well, it ended up being colder in Dallas than Seattle that day. Very, very cold. My start time was 6:15, so I arrived at 5:15. I heard it was 28 degrees and I believe it. It was still dark, so I broke in my headlamp as I took my bag to the transition area. As I set it down I saw the grass sparkle from frost. I grabbed my neoprene gloves (they are the best thing in the cold and have great dexterity). We headed to the start line.

The Ultra Beast Elites went out first. Things were a little behind schedule, so they sent both open wave UB’s at the same time. We were off! It was dark, cold, and a bit crowded through the first few trails. It was awkward to run with the headlamps and uneven ground.

As the sun rose, the terrain came into view and it was a spectacular site. We started to spread out and came to the hurdles and short walls.

There was a lot of rough terrain, more walls, and then we came to one of my favorites, Bender! Once it was complete I could see something looming in the distance. It was the first sandbag carry. These were old school sandbags which were duct taped in a criss-cross fashion. They were firm and had no wiggle room to drape over a shoulder. Just a solid bag of sand to carry. I was able to get mine on my shoulder which helped. The second time through was a bit easier as the bags had become unraveled a bit. I was able to hold onto an end this time.

The hardest part about the carry was the ground. There aren’t many hills on this course, but they utilized the ones that were there to the fullest extent. The sandbag was on a short steep hill with very loose gravel and some spots you had to step down quite far. With the bag on the shoulder, it made it harder because your weight isn’t distributed evenly. I almost went down a couple times but saved myself.

We came to the barbed wire crawl which was long and had a lot of dry hay like grass. I like to roll, so this went pretty fast. Next up was the Ultra Beast loop. It was about 1.5 miles and consisted of hay bales to jump over, the memory test, and the Cormax flip. Then up more hills, over water crossings….more hills, more water. It seemed like that went on a long time.

When I reached the Tyrolean Traverse I talked with a gal who had paced most of the first half of the first loop with me. We ended up hitting it off and running the rest of the race together. She was so much fun and so interesting. Vanessa and I were both running in the open heat, so we were able to help each other along the way.

The UB group didn’t have to cross the “Ball Shrinker” the first round, but the second one was cold as heck! I tried to keep my shirt dry but it didn’t work. Went into a hole and it was all over.

A very interesting development occurred at the Olympus. The obstacle was the same, but the penalty was not the standard 30 burpees! If you failed the obstacle there was a loop you ran instead. I was very curious if this is something they are testing or if they may incorporate more alternate penalties at future races. I like the idea of varying penalties.

We reached the festival area and had the usual obstacles including the rope climb, spearman, A-frame cargo net, and multi-rig. Usually, that means you’re getting towards the end, but not this time. Next up were the bucket carry and about six more obstacles and a rather large distance to travel before reaching the transition area.

To enter the transition area we recited our memory test word and number combination and received our pinney to wear during the second loop. I applied sunscreen (messy incident moment previously discussed), changed my shoes, and ate. I caught up with a couple of my team members and Wes looked a bit concerned about my baby food pouches, but they worked like a charm. I had chicken and rice, sweet potato, and banana. They settled right into my stomach and I couldn’t even tell I ate anything. They were great! I thought about leaving some of my layers behind as I was wearing four shirts, but it barely got up to 60 degrees that day so I opted to keep them all on and I was very glad I did.

Round two began and my new friend and I were underway. The second loop started out fine, but as time went on I could tell that the obstacles were going to be more of a challenge. I particularly noticed it with the atlas carry. I could barely pick up the stone. I got it up about knee height and duck waddled to the flag, burpeed, and duck waddled back. They also had a second atlas stone, but this one had a chain attached. You just carried it to the flag and back without burpees. This was the first time I’ve seen it. It was a bit awkward and hard to decide whether to carry centered or off to one side.

We finally made it around and reached the wonderful, marvelous fire jump! I had been waiting for this moment for quite some time and it was here at last! We did it!!!

It was funny because I introduced my new friend Vanessa to my Seattle friends and they knew each other already! Such a small world! We went to the results tent and received our belt buckles. What a great feeling! It is something I will cherish as it holds memories that will never be forgotten. Oh, and a quick side note….if you notice the white slip of paper you will see that my bag was randomly selected to be checked at the airport. I bet they loved it when they unknotted my double garbage bag full of cow mud covered clothes! AROO!

I conquer the concrete jungle during the week and do as many OCR's, endurance, and running events as possible on the weekends. OCR's are one of the most fulfilling things I've ever done, and the friends I've made are true treasures!